Fox News host Sean Hannity has had no qualms about displaying his views and support of the Trump administration. In fact, he’s known to be quite vocal and sure of himself when it comes to his political attitude.
Over the past few weeks, he has made his stance on the FBI raids on Michael Cohen’s (the President’s longtime personal lawyer) hotel and office clear. Cohen is under criminal investigation by the U.S. attorney’s office in New York and was subject to raids due to the speculated ties between the Trump administration and Russia during the 2016 presidential election.
Hannity vigorously and assuredly defended Cohen on his primetime program and referred to the raids as a “witch hunt investigation [which] is now a runaway train that is clearly careening off the tracks.”
What he failed to mention, though, were his ties to the president’s personal lawyer. On Monday, April 16, the Fox host was publicly outed in the courtroom by Cohen’s legal team as one of the name Cohen’s client list, which, until then, only consisted of the President and Elliott Broidy, a GOP fundraiser.
That same day Hannity immediately denied the claim, stating via Twitter that “Michael Cohen has never represented me in any matter. I never retained him, received an invoice, or paid legal fees. I have occasionally had brief discussions with him about legal questions about which I wanted his input and perspective.”
https://twitter.com/seanhannity/status/985970632201564161
Later that same day, he amended and added to his statement by tweeting “I assumed those conversations were confidential, but to be absolutely clear they never involved any matter between me and a third-party.”
This specific statement only solidifies the idea that he was one of Cohen’s clients — it appears that he is now seeking attorney-client privilege that might keep him out of impending trouble.
The subtext in this tweet, specifically where he denies a third party being involved, alludes to the type of lawyer Cohen is known to be: a lawyer that pays off mistresses, such as Stormy Daniels in the case of Donald Trump.
https://twitter.com/seanhannity/status/985970672789749762
The irony of Hannity distancing himself from the very lawyer he repeatedly defended wasn’t lost on the public. Yet the fact that he never mentioned his connection to the investigated lawyer during any of his passionate segments on the FBI raids can neither be swept under the rug by Fox News nor forgotten by the audiences.
Surprised though, Fox News’s official statement claimed that they “have reviewed the matter and spoken to Sean and he continues to have our full support,” which means they didn’t think much of the incident.
The key point in this incident is that Sean Hannity’s been working with and receiving legal advice from Cohen, which makes the ground for more than a little alarm since Cohen is the center of not one but two federal investigations (the Russian ties and paying off Stormy Daniel investigations).
If either of those investigations turns up exactly what they were looking for, the consequences would be dire. The public, specifically the audience his primetime show garners, should probably have been notified of this entanglement of his with Cohen.
In three additional tweets of denial, Hannity vehemently sticks to his resolve that his interactions with Cohen “dealt almost exclusively about real estate,” and that said interactions were “minims discussions.” In other words, he keeps on denying any real or troubling ties to Cohen and the investigations that he is under.
For someone who is constantly in the limelight, constantly critiquing and scrutinizing others, it should be fair to assume that he has been or should be honest with his audience.
And while there is no certain proof, at least none that we have access to, that any discussion between Cohen and Hannity had to so with anything other than real estate, it is still suspicious and unsettling.
With all of the scrutiny and troubles, as well as the controversy around the investigations on Cohen, the President has speculated about firing and replacing Robert S. Mueller, the special counsel for the Russian investigation, in order to move on from the incident.
He usually delegates questions about Cohen paying Stormy Daniels to stay silent about an affair with the lawyer himself and staying very mum on the whole situation. In regards to Hannity, even though he denies any association with Cohen, he remains steadfast in his views and won’t back down from his denials.
With the particularly tense political atmosphere lately, the news on Hannity’s link to the currently criminally investigated lawyer of the President has only stirred even more controversies about the election, the FBI raids and the affair hush money.
It doesn’t seem as if Hannity will change his stance on his relationship with Cohen anytime soon, but hopefully, whatever that connection does mean won’t land the U.S. into even more political conflict.
